Hello, I’m Pippin, and I’m a guinea pig. Today I’m going to talk about Infections, although I don’t know much about them.

We’re helping out our Mummy, Jemima Pett, who is doing the A2Z this year by putting together all the posts we’ve done here on George’s Guinea Pig World, to make a book on Guinea Pig Care from A to Z. You can see her posts here: jemimapett.com/blog/. We’re filling in the gaps this month.

Infectious diseases of guinea pigs

I don’t think there are many infectious diseases. Most infections are contagions, really, where something like mites or fungal diseases spread from one pig to another. You just have to keep the pigs that havent got it away from the pigs that have, and treat every one thoroughly. And wash your hands before you touch another pig, or you could spread it. There’s something called zoonoses, too, which I’m keeping for Z.

We do occasionally get Upper Respiratory Infections (URI) and Urinary Tract Infections (UTI), which are very different from each other.

Upper Respiratory infections are like your colds, they make your breathing bad. It can make your lungs sound rattly. It’s usually best to take to a vet, because the vet can listen to your nose and your lungs and work out what and where the problem is. Sometimes you may need antibiotics, sometimes it’s better with smelly stuff called Vicks, that you can breathe and it helps clear the congestion.

Mummy think Vicks has gone out of fashion, for humans as well as guinea pigs, but she remembers having to put her head over a tin of melted Vicks and a towel over her head, so she breathed the warm fumes for a while. Some people say you can do that for a guinea pig as well, but in that case, put him in a box with a tube feeding the smelly air into it. Or if it’s just the start of something, pop a dab of Vicks on his nose so he can’t get rid of the smell.

Another use for Vicks is when introducing pigs, so they don’t get upset by their new smell.When everyone smells of Vicks, everyone gets along.

If you have a pig that picks up a tick in the garden, then you have to remove the tick, and monitor the place where it was. If the spot turns red, you should take him to the vet as some ticks spread diseases. It’s normal for a pig to lose hair where a tick bite was, so make a decision on whether it looks infected or not. Better go to the vet if you have any doubts. Roscoe’s didn’t get infected.

I expect there are other infectious diseases that we’ve never come across. Most of the illnesses we’ve had have been diagnosed by one of our Doctors. That tends to be heart trouble, with occasional other problems.

I can’t think of anything else to say, but I hope that helped.

love

Pippin